Storytelling in Theory - The Game Maker's Companion: Game Development - page 190

Figure 8-2. The game version of the three-act structure. The tops of the curves usually correspond to the final
challenges at the end of each level.
Note Remember that these forms are only guidelines and need not be followed to the letter, but can help
point out what might be missing from your story or how you can tighten it up.
Characters
Of course, all stories have characters in them and there are tricks to getting them right, too.
Adding convincing characters to your world will really help to make it come alive. You should try
to avoid stereotypes like the dumb blonde, the lazy plumber, or the Italian mobster. If your
characters are too predictable, they become boring, stupid, and maybe unintentionally funny
(stereotypes are often the butt of jokes).
The monomyth covers characters, too. It describes characters in terms of archetypes that
illustrate the function of a character rather than their personality. Initially, you may find it hard
not to think of them as stereotypes, but they don't focus on superficial traits like stereotypes do
and a hero archetype can just as easily be a mouse as a muscle-bound warrior. This is extremely
useful for a storywriter, as it means we can start populating our world in a way that serves the
story first and concentrate on giving those roles some color and personality afterward. Let's take a
look at the most useful archetypes in storytelling. Even if you decide not to use the monomyth,
archetypes can still be useful for creating your characters.